Hobart race aids British finish

Britain pulled up two places to take sixth out of eight in the 1995 Southern Cross Cup in Australia, helped by better results in the Sydney to Hobart race.

The trio of Andrew Strachan's '97, Hans Hensel's Sancho Pansa and Highie Treharne's Bright Morning Star were just one point behind fifth-placed New South Wales.

The overall winners were the Australian national team of Syd Fischer's Ragamuffin, Michael Quinn's Sycora, and Bruce Foye's Wild Oats, 20 points ahead of the Victoria state A team. One of those, Scott Carlile's Terra Firma, an Iain Murray-designed 41-footer, was declared overall winner of the 51st 630-mile Sydney to Hobart Classic and was the top-scoring individual in the Southern Cross.

No time margins were announced for the nearly 100 yachts taking part in the race.

n Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is pulling his fleet of identical 60-footers out of the Hong Kong Challenge round the world event next autumn and instead will organise a separate Clipper '96 for the competitors, who will all pay their way round.